TOKYO — Rescheduled for Friday 2g
Tokyo elects a new governor this weekend, but residents say personal publicity stunts have overtaken serious campaigns to a level never seen before, with nearly naked women in suggestive poses, mascots, an AI character and a man practicing your golf swing.
It is impossible to ignore it. Since Internet campaigning is still relatively new, candidates traditionally use designated election billboards (more than 14,000 in total) to promote themselves. The makeshift billboards are posted only during the short campaign season and are valuable exposure space in a city already overflowing with advertising.
But this year’s madness (especially by non-candidates renting billboard space) is proving exceptional, and residents have flooded election offices with angry calls and messages.
“Are disgusting. As a Japanese citizen, I feel embarrassed as I see many foreign visitors passing by those signs and they must wonder what is going on,” said Mayumi Noda, an office worker. “As a voter, I think it’s outrageous and disrespectful to the other candidates who are seriously competing.”
A record 56 candidates, including incumbent Governor Yuriko Koike, who is seeking her third four-year term, will run in Sunday’s election. Many of the candidates are marginal figures or influencers seeking even more exposure.
Tokyo, a city of 13.5 million inhabitants, has enormous political and cultural power in Japan. Its budget is the same as that of some nations and its policies impact the national government.
Hours after the official campaign began on June 20, residents were confronted with an impressive array of signs. For some, it’s not even clear if the person behind this is a candidate or simply seeking exposure.
One sign displayed racy posters for an adult entertainment store. Another had a nearly naked female model in a suggestive pose with a message that read “Stop restricting freedom of expression.” Others showed photos of a dog or a kickboxer. A candidate called AI Mayor used an image of a metallic humanoid.
The campaign videos have also generated criticism. One shows candidate Airi Uchino saying: “I’m so pretty; please watch my campaign stream,” and she repeats her name in a high-pitched anime-style voice as she asks voters to be friends on social media. Then she strips down to a colored tube top beige.
In another video, a candidate representing what he calls a “golf game” talks about his policies while occasionally practicing his golf swing.
Under a 1950 election law for public office, candidates in Japan are free to say anything as long as they do not support another candidate or present obviously false or defamatory content.
This year’s escalation is partly related to an emerging conservative political party that has fielded 24 gubernatorial candidates. Since each of the election posters in Tokyo has 48 squares for candidates to stick their posters on, the party is renting out half of the spaces to anyone who pays, including non-candidates.
That kind of unexpected approach is not regulated.
Rental costs start at 25,000 yen (about $155) per spot per day, said party leader Takashi Tachibana.
“We have to be crazy or we won’t get media attention,” Tachibana said in a YouTube comment posted on the party’s website.
“The point is to do immoral and scandalous actions… to get attention,” said Ryosuke Nishida, a Nihon University professor and media and politics expert. “The reason some people find these performances amusing is because they believe that existing politicians and parties do not take their objections into account or reflect them in their policy.”
In a park near Tokyo’s busy Shimbashi train station, passersby looked at a campaign sign with half of its spaces filled with dog posters.
“I don’t decide who to vote for by looking at the faces on their posters,” said Kunihiko Imada, a plumber. “But I still think these signs are being misused.”
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This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
